“I don’t want to speculate on what we’d do under circumstances that we don’t actually think will happen,” she said in an interview.

Emera expects to file the link plan with the provincial regulator in mid-January. The board will have six months to decide whether ratepayers should pay for the subsea cable, estimated to cost $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion.

The link across the Cabot Strait, between Cape Ray, N.L., and Lingan, Cape Breton, will bring hydroelectricity from the lower Churchill River to mainland markets.

Nova Scotia Power would get 20 per cent of the energy from the lower Churchill River at a fixed rate for 35 years. That would meet 10 per cent of the province’s electricity demand.

The Emera subsidiary also has the option of buying more power at market rates, minus transportation costs.

Emera hasn’t indicated what impact the link will have on rates, saying the information will be in its board filing.

Meanwhile, Emera and partner Nalcor, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Crown energy corporation, are working to finalize an early sanction agreement for the Muskrat Falls megaproject.

The sanction deal is required as part of a federal loan guarantee announced last week.

Irving said Emera’s board must endorse the agreement, which is expected to be approved by both companies before the mid-January filing.

“It does not impact the (review board) process at all.”

The guarantee, worth up to $6.3 billion, is expected to lower borrowing costs by more than $1 billion, including more than $100 million related to Emera’s subsea cable.

The federal aid also hinges on Muskrat Falls, which has an estimated total cost of up to $7.7 billion, being a regional project.

If Emera backs out after sanctioning, the company would owe Ottawa a $60-million default penalty.

Irving said Emera and Nalcor would share the cost.

“In our minds, what it really is, is further incentive to find a way to move the project forward,” she said.

Provincial officials have said Emera could revise the project and refile it with the regulator if it’s rejected.

John Merrick, the provincially appointed consumer advocate, said the board isn’t going to automatically give the project the green light.

“We’re anxiously looking forward to seeing it,” he said of the pending application.

Merrick, a Halifax lawyer, said it’s too soon to say whether the subsea cable project could be viable without Nova Scotia Power being a customer.

Emera says the Muskrat Falls project will cost $200 million to $500 million less than other options for adding green energy to the grid over the next two decades.

Critics say the board should take a close look at alternatives, including importing hydroelectricity from Quebec.

The province has mandated that 40 per cent of electricity come from renewable sources by 2020. In addition, coal-fired generation must be phased out by 2030 because of federal greenhouse gas emission rules.